Short Summary

The second group of former United States prisoners of war in Vietnam arrived at Travis Air Force Base in California on Thursday (15 February).

Description

The second group of former United States prisoners of war in Vietnam arrived at Travis Air Force Base in California on Thursday (15 February). They were greeted by hundreds of cheering relatives.

Among the men met by their families at the base was Major Lockhart. He was ??? by his wife and their seven-year-old son he had never seen. The boy had been born after Lockhart's capture nearly sight years ago.

Colonel Roger Byrne summed up the feelings of the released men when he spoke to the crowd: "to be back on American soil has been our dream for seven years."
The men then boarded aircraft that would take them to bases near their families.

In South Vietnam on Thursday, cheers also greeted 175 communist prisoners as they were released on the banks of the Thach Nan River near Quang Tri. About 50 North Vietnamese officials, nurses and soldiers clapped as barges carried the prisoners across the river.

Once on shore, the men, some of them weeping, were led to a reception centre and had their names checked against a master list as members of the International Commission of Control and Supervision watched.

SYNOPSIS: A United States Air Force Starlifter transport aircraft carrying American prisoners of war arrived at Travis Air Force Base in California on Thursday. The men, the second group of prisoners to arrive home from the Philippines, were greeted by cheering relatives.

For Captain Harden Lockhart it was an emotional moment. He was greeted by his wife and their seven-year-old son he had never seen. The boy had been born after his capture almost eight years son. The officers all agreed that it had been their dream for seven years to be back on American soil.

Travelling in two groups of twenty men each, the former prisoners arrive three hours apart. There were more emotional scenes as many of the men were greeted by wives and mothers.

With the exception of officers who live in Northern California, the men were later put aboard military aircraft for flights to hospitals near their homes.

Thousands of miles across the Pacific, 175 North Vietnamese prisoners were released by South Vietnamese troops near Quang Tri. The prisoners at first refused to board barges that were to carry them across the Tach Han River to freedom.

Then, once aboard the barges, they discarded their prison clothes, crutches and bandages, littering the river with the last physical remains of their days in South Vietnamese stockades.

About 50 North Vietnamese officials, nurses and soldiers clapped and cheered as each barge carrying the prisoners arrived on their side of the river. Once ashore, the men, some of them weeping, were led to a reception area where their names were checked against master lists as members of the International Commission of Control and Supervision watched. Saigon officials said that all 175 of the men freed had been in the South for at least three years.